By Lama Tassabehji ---

With no coach and only three varsity players, George Gerdack, Salim Al Ferekh, and Roger Oghnakian, the menÕs volleyball team was able to win one out of two games played against the Rhodes team, a selection of players from different Rhodes clubs. Usually six players are on a volleyball court. The three extra players varied in the two matches. For the first game Mounir Abbouchi (the womenÕs volleyball coach), Toufic Chahine (menÕs handball coach), and Ghadi Al Rayis (track and field), played. Al Rayis then changed with the womenÕs basketball coach, Bassem Jadayel, who played with the incomplete team, which lost to the Rhodes team three sets to five. The first match was, in any case, a two-hour friendly game. Rhodes, coached by Panos, were members of different teams, who actually play professional volleyball. Two days later the men played a professional game with one different player, Rayyan Aoun, who joined them from the basketball team. The men were prepared for this game and appeared in full uniform with numbered shirts. The AUBites won three sets out of four, with very close scores. Rhodes took the first set 25-23, but AUB dominated the remaining three: 27-25, 25-22, and 25-20. Considering the volleyball men had no set team on the trip and had to see who could play volleyball with them in the games, it is a miracle they were even able to compete and win any games.